‘We live on the worst estate in London… guns are found in the street, rubbish is piled high & rats invade our flats’
RESIDENTS living in a dilapidated and rat infested estate riddled with “fire risks” and “guns” have told of the untold damage their “f****** useless” council has wreaked on “good people”.
Large rats scurry around Radley Terrace – branded by one resident the “worst estate in London” – breeding relentlessly in a large pile of rubbish they claim the council have done “sod all” to sort.
This is despite Labour-run Newham Council calling the garbage pile [pictured] at the Canning Town estate on Hermit Road “an emergency risk” themselves, residents claim.
And inside the estate is no better, with The Sun seeing how ceilings are falling in and leaks devastating some of the Housing Association flats leaving residents in at their wits end.
Kevin Solomon, 51, who’s lived in his flat 17 years complains “almost daily” to the council about the rubbish pile and a raft of other issues at the tenant management organisation (TMO) building.
The dad-of-four, who can’t work because of crippling Crohn’s Disease, told The Sun: “They don’t do nothing! We’re the only one’s pushing s*** up in this block.
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“I reported it to Newham Council, you know what they said? They told me they couldn’t find the pile! They’re f******* useless!”
Wooden fittings, doors and household waste are just some of the items dumped in a filthy plot behind a corner shop following an alleged refit months ago.
The owner of shop has supposedly upped sticks and disappeared and the council have failed to sort out the mess, residents claimed.
As well as giving a home to the rats – which were seen by The Sun – residents fear the pile will go up in flames just like the devastating fires that gutted homes in nearby Dagenham over the 40C heatwave.
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The Met Office have warned Britain will be baked by four more heatwaves this summer, adding to residents’ concerns.
But the rats have got so bad that Kevin – who fancies himself as a bit of a chemistry wizard – was forced to craft his own bicarbonate of soda potions which “explode” rats’ stomachs when they eat it.
But Kevin and neighbour Roy Winn, 81, who used to perform with ska legends Jimmy Cliff and Judge Dread, fume how the endless problems are not theirs to sort out after they claim council pest control and waste management failed miserably.
“No one should have to live like this”, Widower Roy added, but Kevin stressed “the council won’t listen”.
Both die hard West Ham fans, the neighbours forged an unbreakable friendship consoling each other through their wives’ respective cancer journeys.
Roy, 81, tragically lost his wife to the cruel disease but has Kevin to spend his days with and take on the lazy council “like Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” from the famous Spaghetti Western blockbuster.
Kevin joked: “We are the last two sheriffs in the Wild West!”
Shainaz But lives with her husband and three sons and says she can “smell the rats” and claim the binmen don’t even bother to clean up the litter.
She told The Sun: “When we go in there [council offices] they take no notice of us, every other week we are there complaining.
“They say ‘we will do something, we will do something’ but look at this!”
She is livid at the council at how she claims they have been treating folk on the estate and are pleading with them to get gates put on the carpark to stop fly tipping.
When The Sun visited Radley Terrace the stench of urine, garbage and vermin was overpowering in the midday sunshine.
Another man, who did not want to be named, lives in a three bed home in the block and reckoned it must be the “worst estate in London”.
The dad of three, who has lived on the estate for 22 years, says he once “found a gun and a knife” in the urine stinking carpark.
He said: “It is definitely one of the worst blocks to live in London, it’s the council not looking after the place.
“As soon as you complain, you get a confirmation email saying ‘pending’, basically they are never answering it.”
“There are people f******* each other in the alleyway as well!”, he claimed.
The man, who lives with his kids, said he has wanted to move for years but admits the bargain £600-per moth rent is what keeps him there.
Rats aren’t the only critter wallowing in the filthy corners of what Kevin said is a “good community” with “good people”.
“I killed three false widows [spiders] the other day,” Kevin admitted after battering the creepy crawlies which can deliver a nasty bite.
While another neighbour who wanted to remain anonymous claimed foxes that gorge on rubbish in the estate devastate her potted banana and tea trees on her terrace.
Other problems have seen Hammers mad Kevin forced to swelter for “11-months” after Newham Council allegedly failed to fix his windows which were “sealed shut”.
While neighbour Kevin Ocansey, 41,says he has lived with a caved in roof for three years thanks to a leaking bathtub.
“It was like this when I moved in”, he says as he showed the massive hole in the ceiling to The Sun.
Asked what happens when he complains, Kevin claims the council simply turn up and take pictures but never come to repair it.
And the single dad who works as a courier and lives with his three kids admits the three-year ordeal has had an effect on his mental and physical health.
He pleaded with The Sun that all he wanted was the place to be clean so he can raise his family in a nice environment.
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Despite the grievances, some residents The Sun spoke to remained uninterested in the issues impacting others, citing the good condition of their own homes.
The Sun Online have approached Newham Council for comment.